Christian and Gloria's story
by PurplePunk
Summary: Okay, 21st century breakdown fan fiction. Basically it's an interpretation of the album. What i thought happened to Christian and Gloria throughout the 18 songs. THANKS TO WRANDOM WRITER FOR EDITING! Rated T for violence and cursing and lovey junk.
1. Song of the Century

There was something strangely comforting about the mess of the apartment. Peeling wallpaper, alcohol-stained carpet, and the fishbowl; slowly collecting algae. The scattered fliers, with their text screaming out against the government reminded her of the good days. Cigarette butts littered the tabled and spilled out onto the floor, scenting the air with smoke and nicotine. It smelled like home.

Gloria collapsed onto the dusty coach. It was four in the morning and she had just gotten back from the bar. She hated it being stuck waiting on her drunken peers instead of leading them into battle as she once had. She remembered how she'd organize the riots… How she could transform the crowd of rejects and rebels into the true army that was The Underground. But all that was well before the incident.

She sighed as she picked herself up so that she was no longer sprawled over the filthy sofa. Her hand automatically reached into her pocket searching for a cigarette. Two left, she grabbed one and began looking for a match. It wasn't difficult. She grabbed a matchbook from the edge of the coffee table and quickly lit up.

She inhaled deeply, as though the smoke would help her find the answers. _Will he ever recover? How much can he even remember? Is it even worth…Of course it is!! _Gloria interrupted her own thoughts; _he would wait for you…right?_ She didn't know anymore. The old Christian would have he would have waited an eternity.

But this new Christian who barely remembered The Underground who had forgotten the pills, the fires, everything! Christian, post-lobotomy. _Still he's healing, _Gloria remembered, _healing. He'll be back to his old self…someday. But how much of it is really him? _She wouldn't have believed it was Christian at all. He didn't fight, didn't drink or smoke. And he was…submissive. _Almost as bad as when I found him,_ Gloria realized.

_And They had done this to him, _Gloria fumed._ They had taken him. Changed him. _They took her Christian away and had tossed back this victim of The Peacemaker. He was hardly himself at all. Gloria wondered if there was anything they hadn't taken from him. Any shred of personality, any scrap of hope…

**FWOOMP**

Gloria jumped at the sound; a match had been struck up beside her. She steadied out her uneven heart beat as she recognized it was only him.

Christian held the burning match in his hands, watching it intently. His eyes moved back and forth, tracing its flicker following its dance. He looked as though he could follow it for hours.

Gloria put her hands up to his shoulders his muscles unwound under her fingertips. He looked away from the flames for the first time to meet Gloria's eyes. He smiled.

He dropped the match.

Gloria pulled back one she saw Christian let go. But Christian himself just watched it fall through the air, unblinking.

It landed on a flyer that had been lying halfway in the ash tray, it caught fire immediately. The flames began to eat up the paper moving quickly away from the match. The fire lit up Christian's face, making his rusty hair appear orange and deepening the shadows that defined a huge grin.

As the fire finally fizzled out, Christian happily watched the smoke rise up to meet the ceiling and dissipate. He sat like that for a moment, just smiling at where the smoke had been. Then he turned sharply to face Gloria, who had been watching him the whole time in shock.

"Gloria…Do I like fire?"

Her face went from surprised to smiling in an instant. So that's what they couldn't take away.

"Once a pyro, always a pyro." Gloria said happily.

"Really?" Christian asked, Gloria nodded. "Wow…"

He seemed happy with the new discovery. He was always happy when he remembered something even the bad. There were worse memories he had smiled at.

_This is a breakthrough_. Gloria realized. She began the question that she had asked one million times.

"Do you…remember anything?"

Christian closed his eyes, "…you know what…I think i…"

Gloria sat straight up. Before she got a chance to press him for details he started again.

"I… Well, it's a little fuzzy but…" he struggled for words and squinted his eyes, "That station…the one down the street…did I…" he opened his eyes and looked straight at Gloria, " Did I do that?"

Gloria knew exactly what he was talking about. The station, or what was left of it, was what had gotten him this way in the first place. She looked at her shoes, avoiding Christian's curious, child-like eyes.

Taking a deep breath she answered, "Yeah…for me. It's a long story…"

She looked up to see Christian looking extremely confused. He silently mouthed, "What…?"

She fumbled around her pocket and pulled out her last cigarette, she was going to need it.


	2. Mission

Gloria sat on the porch outside one of the many identical homes. She was staring intently at the large building directly across the street from her. They called it school. She preferred the term prison. Or brain-washing facility, either way.

If she squinted she could almost see where she had scribbled the word "Jail" back in kindergarten. _Ah...my first crime against society..._ She remembered how she had leaned out the second story window as her teacher taught the other children to spell and whatnot. She had taken a red crayon from somebody sitting next to her, a real tattle-tale, what was his name again? Christopher? She couldn't remember the details very clearly. She had taken the crayon and marked the wall, J-A-L-E. Jale. Of course, she had wrote it facing herself so from this point it would be upside down.

It was too high up for them to paint over, or even notice. People kept their eyes to the ground around here.

But she was here on a mission, not to reminise. She peeled her eyes off the building and tried to focus on the task at hand. She had to get one of those students to come back with her, for the sake of The Undergrounders. She had to show them what the peacemaker could do. Had to demonstrate that The Underground was the only way if they wanted to lead a free life.

Most of them had been born in out there, blissfully unaware of the blissfully unaware. Gloria intended to change that. After all, you have to know your enemy. Especially if you intend to fight.

She remembered the conversation that lead her here in the first place....

"Gloriaaaaa!!! Is there anything over theeeeere???" a bouncy 7 year old asked, pointing with chubby fingers to the horizon.

:Trees, rocks, bugs, oh and.....BOOGEYMEN!" Gloria made a face in imitation of the monster and proceded to tickle the little girl.

"Ah! Glo! Cut it out!" the girl laughed, "No! I meant over theeere! After the forest! Over there, see??" She took Gloria's hand in hers and pointed it at some buildings off in the distance. "See?? What's there??"

Gloria looked out and saw it. Suburbia.

Full of heartless buildings and their mindless residents. Where those who succumbed to the peacemaker lived. Sparkling clean streets and neatly manicured lawns hallmarked it a "utopia". If that was your sense of the word. Controlled, indifferent, uncaring, just on the edge of comunistic. _Pshh...utopia my ass!_

"That's where They live." Gloria said coldly, trying to keep the hateful words from slipping.

"They?" the little girl quizzed.

"The peacemaker, the ones we're fighting against....and their hostages." She added the last bit dramatically.

"Hostages? What's that?"

An older boy, about 11 or so, walked up. He flicked blonde hair out of his face and then addressed the little girl. "It means they have people there. Innocent people."

The girl looked confused, "That's silly! People live here! Not there!"

Gloria and the boy exchanged a look of worry.

"Girlie...how many people think thats true?" Gloria asked tentavily.

The answer was shocking. Nearly every undergrounder thought there was no life but their own. It would make sense, since over half the residents were children, born and raised there. But why hadn't the adults told their kids? What good was it? Without knowledge, they were powerless.

"Meeting. Now." Gloria had commanded.

She called herself out from her memories and sighed. "Now here i am, loitering around the 'burbs, waiting to essentially kidnap one of their sheep."

She stood up and walked down a couple side streets, looking for a way to distract herself while she waited for the school bell to ring. Loose change jingled in her pockets with her step, as did the various tools she had brought to assist her kidnapping. She sounded like a one-man band as she walked past the hospital.

_Ahh...no where to go...wait...an alley? Cool. _

She gingerly crossed the street, careful to make sure she hadn't attracted an audience with her noise. _No...guess they're all at work..._

Checking both ways for officers, she pulled a can of black spray paint from uinder her worn jacket. She sprayed a little in the air and smelled it, "mmm..." she mumbled, barely audible. She then took to the nearest wall and graffitti'd aimlessly, wasting time untill she could complete her mission.


	3. Ready to go

"...and that is why, in order to keep peace, tranquility, and control, to keep this system from falling, to keep order above all, we must submit. Submit gratefully to the peacemaker. For he and only he..." the priest droned on and on.

Christian's patience was waning. He had listened to this man talk for nearly 3 hours about the same stupid stuff. "Submit to the peacemaker", "Submission is the only way to happiness", "individuality leads to rebellion", yada yada yada.

It was a supposedly big day at lifetime prep. Council election day. The entirety of the school was massed into the assembly hall, from the blue-clad kindergarteners to the nearly grey-suited senior class in the back. Him and the other 8th graders sat a little back from the middle, all wearing black and red uniforms and smiles. Even though his own was plastic and fading fast.

He itched at his neck. The uniform was starched and scratchy. "Waste not, want not" they preached. _Yeah right, they just like seeing us suffer._The black and red was supposed to represent the transition into adulthood. Black reminisent of an adult's grey-tone uniform and red resembling the bright colors of a child's. Christian himself thought it to look like a vampire's cloak from one of his many contraband books. Well, the color scheme anyway. _I doubt vampires wore sweater-vests._ he thought absently.

Not that he could tell anyone that though. That would be a sure-fire way to a lobotomy!

The very thought made him shiver. A lobotomy was the worst thing he could imagine, a fate worse than death. It was said that before they operate, they would send you in to see the peacemaker, face to face. He evaluates you and then administers the anesthesia, you're last free thoughts are of terror as he smiles over your body.....

_Okay, that's a bit over dramatic...._

But you did get to see him. And that's exactly what Christian envisioned such a man to do, right after he got done spitting on puppies and burning kittens.

But no, the whole 8th grade had been educated on the procedure, as a sort of crime prevention surgeries had been invented back in the days of Old America, used to treat mental illness. Although with a success rate of 50%, they were highly controversial. Of course, patients were reported to become quieter, with less emotion and free-thinking skills. The New American council had researched the subject and perfected the lobotomy, making it the perfect "treatment" for rule-breakers.

As for what happened during the operation? They would give you heavy anesthetics so you wouldnt feel them cut you open. "Delicately", they would put your body on the cold metal table, like some slab of meat. Then they would use a scalpel to slice the skin and bone and get to what they wanted, the mind.

You just lie there, unaware of the coming mutilation.

Surgeons hover over you, using an assortment of blades to cut the connections to your prefrontal cortex.

snip snip snip

With the closing of the doctor's blades, every bit of emotional reasoning is gone. Every free thought, dead. The feelings of rebellion that lead you under the knife in the first place abandon you, never to be heard from again. They stitch you up like some broken doll, and from then on you live in a cold emotionless state. Perfect for them to re-introduce you into society.

Christian didn't want to think about it anymore. The thought of surgery made him sick. Scissors + body parts, ech. He felt ready to puke.

He swallowed the bile collecting in his throat. _Chill._ ,he told himself,_ That won't happen to me. You have to be really bad for that... _He considered all he had done. _...and you have to get caught. _He was not the type to get caught.

In fact, he'd already planned his escape. No longer would he live under such tyranny. No longer would he live every day in fear of being discovered. His clothing and other, mostly illegal, things were all packed up in a suitcase in the back alley. As soon as he got out of the assembly he was going to leave the suburbs and head west. He'd heard stories of the west, stories of freedom, of liberty and life.

He'd find out if it was true, because even if it wasn't, even if he was met only with death, it'd be better than another day here.

Christian had nearly fallen asleep, letting his thoughts of freedom wash over him and drown out the lecturings of the priest.

"Christian Gates, grade 8, age 13."

"huh?", at the sound of his name he opened one eye and saw not only the priest staring back at him, but the entire student body.

Shock ran through him like lightning, breaking him into a cold sweat._What are they talking about? Am i in trouble? Did they find my briefcase? My books? The trash can full of pills?!_ The alarm could be easily read on his face, wide eyes, pale complexion, tightened lips.

The priest cleared his throat, "Ahem, I repeat: Elected for Care-taker is Christian Gates, grade 8, age 13."

He stood up slowly, confused. _Me? Care-taker? What have I done?_ Care-taker was an esteemed position. The job was to nurture and care for the kindergarten class, keep them from straying into rebellion. Basicly, take their imaginative young minds and lock them up with laws, lies, and the New American way.

He couldn't see how they could've picked him to do such a thing. He hated to see the young ones deprived a childhood and lead into this society. What traits made him a role model?! He was the second most rebellious person he knew! _The first..._He shook off the thought. Remembering her would only make him more restless to leave.

As he was contemplating how he was selected, he recalled that the rebellious and real him was not what they saw. He had been sucking up and kissing ass lately, to assure nobody suspected him of his crimes. Thievery, pill refusal, possesion of illegal items, the list went on and on.

_Hmm...I must seem like a pretty decent guy to all them. Oh, if they only knew. _He smirked as he walked up the aisles to the stage at the front of the hall.

He took the steps onto the huge stage slowly, this wasn't someting he had planned on. He hoped it wouldnt take too long. The priest backed off from the podium and took a seat to Christian's left, giving him room for an induction speech.

"Uh...Hello there..." His greeting was met with a bored silence. "Uh..." He had no idea what to say. He could feed them some lies about how glad he was. He could quote from the priest's lesson, then again, he hadn't been listening, so that was out. Perhaps fake a sore throat? No, pill takers don't get ill... His mind jumped about, searching for ideas. Cut your losses and run? Or give in and become a church member, leave in a couple months? Or...or...

Or he could go out with a bang.

He took a deep breath, looking for the courage to tell his story before he ditched. It came in the image of a girl,_ the _girl, casting her green jacket onto the floor. She stepped on the piece of uniformed cloth as she made her way to the door. She reached the exit and turned around. In a voice that was so much more powerful than her small body, she thundered, "I QUIT!!". The words rang in Christian's ears as the memory faded.

He was ready, time to leave this prison.


	4. 21st century breakdown

"Hello there, brainwashed students and citizens! I stand here before you, elected as this generation's care-taker. I have one comment on the subject; how stupid of you."

He paused to observe the crowd's initial reaction. Wide, surprised faces. Who would expect such a thing from Christian? Sweet, quiet, Christian?

"You all look a bit startled. What? You shocked? You shocked that your perfect little Christian Gates is making a mockery of your 'utopia'? Don't be. I'm leaving this god damned place." He glowered at the audience, let them know he meant it."But first, my story."

"I was born into this modern hell. Never given even a chance to taste freedom, condemned to live here, wasting my time. I was told it was the only way. And for so long, so long... I believed it. I was raised on the poor side of town, where the run-aways have hideouts and they're still working on the housing. So yes, i was exposed to the other life, but I believed the sick lies telling me that such was criminal. That the run-aways were scum and that if it weren't for suburbia's 'genorosity' they would have already been exterminated. That, once again, THIS was the only way. I ate it up, the town ate it up, and every one of you ate it up. The lies that are the foundation for New America."

"Do you realize that you are all mindless? That you are nothing but government pawns? Do you see that they are using you to achieve a state of perfection, only aqquirable if you are lacking in free-will? Which you all are! None of you can make your own decisions! Not one! You have been raised on pills, and set into a system since before you could walk! If you are all content to be droids, go ahead. Me? I'll be the first to run in 3 years.I will not be blinded by the 'refining' of America.I will not be doomed to this working class, robotic state. I will be free."

"All this time, I've been lost. MIA to a system that doesn't care. No ones found me, so i'll go searcing. For a home. For a family. You guys know what they are? Your definitions say a house, and people who share your genes....But there's more to it. I'll find them, and I'm sure as hell they won't be in the suburbs."

The audience was murmuring:

"What's he doing? What is this?"

"Should we force him down?"

"No,no, that would be out of tradition..."

"Maybe we should contact The Peacemaker? Oh my... we'll need paperwork... Anyone have a pen?"

"He's cursed! He's obviously gone mad!"

Christian thought for a moment. Maybe he had gone mad. After all, it wasn't the 20th century anymore. _Eh...I'm screwed anyway...Show must go on._

Although several listeners had opted to inform The Peacemaker of this disturbance, no one filled out any of the incident forms. No one made a move to force Christian from the stage. The audience sat in a silence that was not any longer bored, but anticipating. Even the priest sat patiently, waiting to hear the continued ramblings of a psychopath.

"The medication, the control, it's all poison in your blood. Keeping you down, keeping you out. But in this era, where one wrong has you condemned to a lobotomy. Where one slight glitch has you tested for weeks, and put on even more pills, maybe it's for the better. Maybe if you are that weak, you have a better shot 'living' in here, than thriving in the real world."

"But if you are strong, you know the real answer. Class of 13, do you really think these bastards know what's best for us?!"

The 8th graders Christian was addresing looked blank. One shrugged. Christian sighed, it was no use. Thy had been pill dependant their whole lives, always being told what to do. Why would the authority have any reason to lie? They had never been hurt.

_Oi...They don't know what they're missing. Fine then. Don't listen. Have fun rotting in suburbia. Well, I'd better wrap this up if i wanna leave by dark..._

He stood on the stage a moment. Picking out words as they swam across his mind. If this was the last thing he'd say, he wanted it to sound powerful. As he thought, memories of the girl, his inspiration, flooded in. He remembered her always fighting. Challenging every rule. Being sent to the evaluation office god knows how many times... And finally, escaping. Yes...he would escape too...

"My name to you may be no-one, but i am a long lost son of America, the REAL America. A true supporter of the old ways, and, quite ironically, born on the same day as our country was. Not August 19th, when you commies took over. July 4th, the day when our country truly became a land of the free. But you took me and raised me in this era, where our heroes are cons and nobody cares if you're really alive or just sitting and breathing. All i have to show for 13 long years of oppresion are the scars of attempted suicide! Because even hell would be beat this!!" His voice broke through several octaves as he yanked up his right sleeve and showed the crowd his arm, covered in jagged raised lines.

He continued, screaming now and not bothering to roll his sleeve back down." To this charlatan religion, this prosthetic way of life that i gave my heart and soul to; NO LONGER! I'll break my fingers and lie through my teeth to escape this tyranny! To escape this 'American way'. I'm not going to sit on my ass wasting my time by waiting to be jugded by The Peacemaker! I don't care! Good-bye America!! In a land where the only freedom is to obey, all i have to ask you is this: Do you believe what you see, from heroes and cons?"

Christian knew it was over. His face was hot and his eyes were stung. He walked through the aisles quickly, drivenly, ready to get the hell out of there. Yet something tugged him to stay, something told him to do more, let them remember. Maybe it was the eyes of his peers, all focused on him. He cast glares to as many as he could meet.

He reached the door and before he could make a quick escape, he felt the tug again. It told him to go out big, go down in history, to just follow instincts. And so he listened to it.

The priest watched as Christian whipped around to face him. The kid's face was covered in tears and yet there was an almost demonic smile on his lips. Christian mouthed the words "fuck you" and took something from his pocket. A matchbook.

**Shtttttrck! Foomf!**

He lit a match and threw it casually onto the New American flag. As he exited the doors, he shouted without turning back, "I QUIT!" And then, Christian Gates walked westward, following in the footsteps of the girl he called his inspiration.


	5. Meeting

After walking about a block away from the assembly hall, reality had hit him like a brick to the face. He then realized he had just broke every rule and law this society had ever known. Looking back, he saw smoke pouring out of the doors he had just exited. Officers would be there in a matter of minutes. The image changed his casual walk into a haphazard, panicked sprint.

Christian's mind was racing almost as fast as his feet were hitting the ground._Shit, shit shit! I overdid it! I WAY overdid it! Fire?! FIRE?! What the hell was i thinking?! I bet they have officers after me right now!_

He turned a corner, and skidded on the slick, January ice. His mind stuttered as he tried to remember the way to to the alley he had left his possesions in.

_Isn't it...wasn't it...? _He monolouged inwardly, trying to make out landmarks through a post-adrenaline haze.

He looked around himself, "Okay...I'm on the west side...and there's the hospital...sooo..." He looked at the hospital dully, his eyes glazey and unfocused as he tried to remember where his stuff was. "Oh yeah! Up ahead! A block and to the right!" He began his frantic running again. The quicker he got to the alley, the quicker he could get the hell out of suburbia and into safety.

He turned the corner into the passage sharply and ran pell mell for his stuff. _Wait..who's?!_

**BAM!!!**

Christian had looked up just in time to see a girl in the alley, but not quick enough to stop. He ran smack into the figure, toppling her to the ground and landing clumsily on top.

He lifted his chest off the girl to see if she was an officer. _Man, if she is....I'm screwed!_

_No...no officer uniform... Just a really pissed off expression. She seems strangely...familiar..._ " Oh my god, i am so sorry!! I didn't mean to hurt you or anything! Are you alright?! Oh my god, i just didn't see you!"

The girl just glared at him, "Get. Off."

"Oh!!" He'd forgotten that he was still practically pinning her to the ground. He rushed to his feet, blushing. He told himself it wasn't due to the incident. _It's just from the running, adrenaline y'know..._

He put out his hand to help the girl to her feet, but she only looked annoyed at it and got up herself. Christian pulled his hand back and looked the girl over.

She wasn't tall, but wasn't short. The way she held herself was full of confidence, like some general in a war story, very leader-like and take-charge. Her hair was dark brown and pulled into a messy ponytail, it had a barely noticable streak of color--orange? Only two things really stuck out about her, her clothes and her eyes. Christian had only seen clothing like hers in books, denim pants they referred to as jeans and a striped "T-shirt". At least the jacket was familiar, just like anyone's except it was a red-orange color instead of the mandatory black-red. And her eyes...truly strange. Thick black marking rimmed them, like charcoal shadows. On her left eye, three dark lines had been traced down from the lower lid, the middle one ending the fathest down her cheek. On her right, three triangular spikes had been drawn out from the top lid. They were ice blue. Like snow in color and just as cold when they caught christian staring so intently. The color...they were _her_ eyes... In fact, everything about this girl....

Christians jaw dropped, " You're, you're, you're...."

"I don't believe that's how introductions work." She smiled smugly, " Let's try again; you are?"

"Christian." He put his hand out again, to shake.

Behind her back, the girl secured a mini-syringe to her finger. Specifically made for such purposes as kidnapping, the serum inside would knock a victim unconcious for about two hours.

The girl took his hand to shake and pushed the needle into his flesh. As she watched the color drain from his face and the conciousness drop from his eyes, she happily replied, "Gloria."


	6. Kidnapped

"Alrighty! Phase uno complete!" Gloria said happily as she stepped over Christian's limp body. She cocked her head to the side and looked at him.

"Hmm...Kinda cute when he's sleeping.",she said through a smirk.

When he had hit the ground, his copper hair had fallen over his face awkwardly. It was cut in the mandatory-to-suburbia way, bowl style, bangs typically just above the eyebrows and evenly cut all the way around. But he obviously had been neglecting his barber visits, as his hair was longer than most, and was frayed and shaggy at the tips. His eyes were fallen shut, and Gloria didn't remember their color. _Probably blue or something boring like that..._ She looked further and saw that on the ground beneath his face, there was a small trickle of red.

She kneeled down beside him and turned his face from the ground. There was a small gash on his cheekbone from colliding with the pavement. Gloria rolled her eyes,_ Great. An injury before he's even awake. _She licked her thumb and rubbed it across his cheek to clean off the blood. Ignoring the afterthought that having spit in his cut wasn't very sanitary, she pulled out a band-aid and stuck it to his cut. There was something odd about his face, very unlike the other suburb civillians. Christian's face was splotched with patches of imperfection in the form of acne. Gloria had to raise an eyebrow at this, because she knew for a fact that pill-takers didn't get zits. No hormones, so nothing to cause them. _Huh...I caught a freak... Great._

She checked her watch. _It'll be about seven when he comes to. Good thing I'm on the west side, only a couple blocks to Kam's if I remember right._

Gloria grabbed him by his wrists and proceeded to drag him to the back of the alley. "Mmph...you're kinda heavy for a suburban, eh?" She struggled pulling him. She had expected a typical kid, they were usually scrawny from pills and instant food. This one wasn't fat, but more of a size she'd call...healthy. She noticed, lying against the cement wall of the alley,the briefcase Christian had been rushing for. She decided to bring it with. She told herself it wasn't to do him a favor._ Only because it might have valuables...money y'know..._

At makeshift wagon waited for her at the back of the alley. It was basicly scrap wood on some old go-kart wheels, a dog's leash serving as a handle. She clumsily lifted Christian onto the cart and put his case onto his stomach. She was glad that the vehichle didn't break from the added cargo.

"And we're off..." She muttered under her breath.

She navigated the back alleys like an expert, knowing exactly where to turn and which routes would keep her the farthest away from the main roads. Kam's place was on the very far end of the west side, midway between suburbia's center and The Underground. It was a very frequent rendevouz point for Underground spies, and a miracle they hadn't been discovered. Gloria figured it was fear that kept officers from coming too far west, it was the only direction that travelers never returned from.

Of course, those whom they presumed dead were actually newcomers to The Underground. Or if they were less than cooperative...well...The officers had a right to be afraid.

In a matter of minutes Gloria had reached the far side. She left the wagon in the safety of the shadows and ventured a few paces out of the alley. She looked around cautiously for officers. _Nope....None here. No civillians yet either, good_. Explaining an unconcious body and a lack of uniform clothes would be impossible, and the mission a failure._God knows what they'd do to the kid...._

Gloria stepped back into the alley to retrieve her captive and was on her way. A little shop, a couple buildings down the way, was where she was headed. Disguised as an old, worn-out, appliance repair store, was Kam's place.

She pulled the wagon up behind her, and knocked three times on the front door. Like in some old movie, a woden panel slid to the side in the door's front, revealing two spectacled eyes.

"Password?", a voice asked.

"Kam, you idiot! It's me!", Gloria replied in an exhasperated tone.

"Uh...Sorry..incorrect password." the voice said, struggling to sound collected.

Gloria looked at Christian and then back at the eyes, "What, you tryin to act all high-tech for the new kid? He's unconcious. Now let me in before somebody sees me!"

The eyes peered around her to get a look at the kid in the cart. Dissapointed, the panel was shut and the door swung open to reveal the rest of the man behind the door.

Kam was tall. He looked about 6'2" with the baby-face of a fifteen year old. He was asian and had thick-ish black hair that looked as though it had been cut with a dull razor. His eyes were such a dark brown, you couldn't make out where the pupil ended and the iris began, and they moved quickly beneath a pair of goggle-like glasses.

They darted from Gloria to Christian to inside his house, and back to Gloria. "Uh....I don't have room for the cart.." he said.

Gloria sighed, "Fine. I'll leave it in the alley. As long as Christy here cooperates, I won't need it anyway. Take him in and put him on the couch or something. He's got an hour fourty-five til he wakes up."

Kam easily picked up Christian and his briefcase, and headed inside while Gloria dragged the cart back to the alley.


	7. Kam's place

Stepping over wires and cords, Kam carefully made his way to the "living room" with Christian in arms. The only thing that defined it as a living room was the futon style couch and the coffee table,the rest looked straight out of sci-fi. There were about twenty-some television screens lining the front wall, half showing what looked like real-time views of the suburbs and half showing random television programs. The other walls were covered in wires, taped up to keep them off the floor, although that didn't keep it from being a spiderweb. Shelves and shelves of machines lined the back, VCRs,DVD players, Radios, you name it. The only free space in the room was a path that lead into the rest of the place.

Kam kicked the futon and it popped open to bed size. He tossed Christian onto it carelessly, and then sat down on the coffee table, picking up a headset radio from behind him.

"This is Kameron broadcasting from the rendezvouz point. Just reporting that phase one was succesful. Over."

Static....and then;

"Ohhh! Hi Kami!!" said a drunken female voice in between hiccups.

"Wh-What?! Lily?! Where's Daniel?!"

Lily giggled girlishly,"Hehehe! Danny? Silly Danny! He isn't feelin' too well at the moment, can i take a message?"

Kameron sighed, he guessed there had been some sort of party last night. He doubted there was any jack daniels left.

"Lily...I'm going to turn on the visuals now..." he said as he clicked a button on a nearby remote.

The T.V. monitor about four from the left and two from the bottom twitched and then swung out on a mechanical arm to meet Kam. The program, some anime about a green-haired and bikini-clad girl playing volleyball, fizzled out and switched to a view of a radio room in The Underground.

"Ah! Uh...No visual neccasary, Kami! I got it all- " She hiccuped,"I got it all under control!!"

Kameron looked at the screen with disgust. Visual was sure-as-hell neccasary.

The radio room was completely trashed. Chairs were knocked over, some with ripped cushions and feathers bleeding out onto the liqour slicked floor. Someone had unplugged all the headphones and tied them together in thick complicated knots. There were all manners of graffiti covering the walls, from simple tags to elaborate and somewhat obscene murals. The room was deserted though, the partiers knew that there would be hell to pay, motivation enough to get their drunk asses out of there. The only people Kam detected were Lily, wearing a male work shirt two sizes too large and an embarressed smile, and.... _**Dear god.**_

"Why...Why is Daniel unconcious and...naked?" Kameron asked cautiously.

Lily blushed fire-truck red, "Danny?" She tried to play dumb, "Daniel's here? I don't see him...Oh! Under the- Well how'd he get there?! And naked! Of all the things! Wow...that's just...Strange!" She smiled even more sheepishly as she covered the name tag on her shirt.

"Dear god...Did you two..? Ugh. I don't even want to know..." Kameron was sickened by the thought of such nonsense running rampant in his radio room.

"Is Boss watching?" Lily asked nervously.

"No, get that place cleaned up though. She's coming home, probably with a newcomer."

Lily's face brightened up," A newcomer?! Wow! I'll get this mess taken care of pronto!" She gave a salute and walked off toward the tangled headphones.

Kam clicked the button on the remote again, and the television swung back into place, showing the green-haired anime girl flirting with some spiky-headed blonde kid. Gloria walked in the door just as Kameron was removing the headset radio.

"You check in with base?" She asked, leaning up against an old fax machine.

"Yeah. Nothing **that** out of the ordinary." He replied, watching the fifth television screen. A National Geographic video, showing the gory corpse of a zebra.

Gloria pantomined a thoughtful look," Let me guess...some sort of drinking party in the old church?"

"Actually, the radio room this time." Kam corrected. _Remind me to have the place sanitized._

"Ah. Well, it's still an hour and a half 'til the kid wakes up." Gloria said, now sitting criss-cross on the dusty wood floor," And i'm bored."

Kam looked at her with exhasperation," You're the only girl I know who can commit a kidnapping, govern the last free city in the hemisphere, and still be bored."

"I'm the only girl you know, period!" Gloria said, rolling her eyes and helping herself to a half empty Mountain Dew on the table.

"Hey! I know lily! And Celeste!" Kam retorted defensively.

Gloria laughed," Yeah, from the T.V maybe, but have you ever met them? No. Therefore, I'm the only girl you know. Check and mate."

Kam started to say something back, but realized he was beat. He gave Gloria a dirty look and stuck out his tounge.

"Oh, wah-wah, you baby. Why don't you change the T.V. to somethin' good? We've got time to kill." She said, sipping the flat soda and completely hiding the fact that she was bursting with anxiety to talk to the suburbian lying still on the couch.

* * *

Author's note:

**Sorry, just a chapter to give you an idea of what Kameron is like. I had to split a really big chapter into smaller parts so...yeah. No interesting stuff in this chapter. It get's better though, I promise! Just wait 'til the kid wakes up. :)**


	8. Good morning

Kameron picked up the remote and clicked a button on the top right, syncing all the televisions together, so that they formed a sort of makeshift big-screen.

"Hmm, impressive. When'd you set that up?" Gloria asked as she watched a larger-than-life "Snookie" dance around on a re-run of _Jersey Shore._

"Oh, a month ago I think. I get bored around here…It really wasn't that difficult, I could show you how, you just have to run the cable through the computer and then program each television monitor to pick up a certain range of the data and then simply re-wire the…What?"

Gloria was laughing, "Hehehe, sorry Kam! I just find it funny when you ramble. What, did you expect me to understand all this or somethin'?"

Kam blushed, _She called me funny… _"Oh, I...I'm sorry. I just forget you're technology impaired…"

"Hey, I'm not 'technology impaired'! I just don't have a USB cable sprouting out my ass or the ability to speak JavaScript!"

Kameron couldn't help but laughing at the mental image of such a person.

They spent the next thirty minutes watching an episode of _Jersey Shore_, wondering how such a show got put on the air in the first place.

"Dude…What's the deal with that Snookie chick's hair?" Kameron asked, as the end credits rolled, "And is she even Italian…?"

Gloria giggled, "I dunno! Go Wikipedia it!"

"Oh, good idea! Be right back!" Kameron scrambled up and off to the computer room.

"I was just kidding!" Gloria called out as he disappeared into the back.

"Too late!" He called back. The T.V. instantly turned to static, causing Gloria to jump and emit a high pitched squeal. Kameron laughed and called back, "Sorry can't run the cable and the computer at the same time!"

"Ugh…" Gloria found the remote and turned off the televisions. "You'd think Einstein here would have upgraded from dial-up…." she muttered to herself.

She flopped onto the sofa and closed her eyes, quite forgetting about the boy right beside her.

"Wh…What the hell…?", a groggy voice whispered.

Gloria's eyes popped open. Beside her, Christian had sat up. His palms were pressed to his eyes, rubbing away sleep-grit.

Gloria hopped off the bed, lightning fast. She stood at the foot of the bed, looking at him with her head cocked to the side, waiting for him to say something else.

Christian took his hands from off his face and used them to prop himself up on the bed more comfortably. He opened his eyes and looked wildly around the room in confusion and astonishment.

He narrowed them to slits when he saw Gloria. "You! You were in the alley! Who the fuck are you? Where the fuck am I?"

"Well, good morning to you too, Christy." Gloria said sarcastically.

"I don't want your fucking 'good morning'! I want to know what the hell's going on!"

"Chill out there!" Gloria said, "You've got quite a vocabulary for a Pill-taker."

Christian glared at her, "I'm no Pill-taker."

"Well, you sure aren't an Undergrounder…"Gloria said, tilting her head to the other side," So, who are you?"

"Who are you?" Christian screamed.

Kam appeared in the doorway, "Everything alright in there?"

"Who's he?"

"Kam, let's not overwhelm the kid…"Gloria sighed.

"Yeah, alright. Here…" He tossed Gloria a pill, "Just in case the kid pulls anything funny, that should immobilize him for about half an hour."

"Hey!" Christian yelled.

Gloria ignored him, "Is that all, Kam?"

"Yep…Oh! And I looked up Snookie… She's actually Chilean!"

"Huh…Who woulda guessed? Anyways, I'm kinda busy with the pup here. He's still confused and whatnot, gimme a sec, 'kay?"

"Oh, yeah sure. I'll be in the computer room." Kameron walked out and left Gloria to attend to Christian.

He was sitting on the bed still, making no attempt to escape.

Gloria turned to face him;

"Okay, well then! As I said earlier, good morning! Welcome to Kameron's house, and possibly the most important day of your meaningless life. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Although, keeping the explicatives to a minimum would be greatly appreciated, as our staff is oh-so-sensitive. We do not recommend attempting to stand, or moving suddenly, as the sedatives may not have worn off completely. This is for your protection, because we would be oh-so-terribly-sad if you should fall. You may feel slight nausea and/or headaches, this is normal and we apologize for the inconvenience…"

Gloria recited the spiel as though she were a flight attendant, although through the peppy way she was talking, it was obvious that she was dripping with sarcasm.

Christian looked at her, eyes wide and mouth agape, "Sedatives?"

"Well yes, how else did you suppose we got you here?" Gloria answered nonchalantly.

Christian was silent, past his initial cussing fit, he was now beyond words. As usual, his panicking mind swam with thoughts; _Sedatives? They…What did she do? How did she get me sedatives? All I did was...What did I do? Okay…ran into her in the alley, told her my name…then I woke up here…. Is she just pissed I knocked her over? That's ridiculous…And why take me here anyway? Where…where IS here? _

"Where am I?"


	9. Explanations

Gloria sighed, "Already told you, didn't I, kid? Kameron's house. Kameron, the tall dude you just saw? That's him. Anyways, if you really want specifics, you gotta promise to keep your mouth shut about all this, got it?"

Christian looked her in the eyes, "I promise."

"Good, because I'd have no problem killing you if you blabbed. Anyways, where was I?" Gloria looked up to the ceiling, trying to remember. She snapped her fingers when she recalled. "Oh yes, your location! West, west side. A hidden rendezvous point for the underground. Kam lives here and is our intelligence agent, keeps us informed about what's going down in the city."

"Wait, wait, wait. The Underground?" Christian looked confused.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't tell me you haven't heard the stories! You know, the town out west, no rules, no pills, no peace maker…."

"The stories…are true?" Christian asked, hope welling up inside his otherwise hopeless heart.

Gloria laughed, "No shit, Sherlock. In fact, you just happened to be talking to the commander-in-chief of said establishment." She smiled proudly and mocked tipping a hat to him.

Christian couldn't help but smiling. _Freedom! Truth! Finally! Still…Freedom rarely comes by kidnapping…_

"But wait…Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"Well, I needed an example for the other Undergrounders. I needed to show them what a suburban is. They don't know…anything really. Nothing about the Peacemaker, or Suburbia, or what America has become. And that's my fault; I can't let them all stay ignorant." She looked to the floor, clearly ashamed of letting her people stay in the dark for so long. "Anyways, I planned to kidnap a suburban. Show my people what they were, and what the Peacemaker could do. Give them some motivation to fight back, y'know?"

"So…You need an average, law-abiding, pill-sick, 'burb kid?"

"Yep."

"…You have the wrong guy…"

Gloria laughed again, shocking Christian. _You'd think she'd be a little concerned…?_

"I kinda put that together, kiddo. You don't exactly blend like the others. Might be enough to fool the authorities but, I'm a little more clever. Take these for example..." She brushed his cheek with her fingers, "Zits! Not a single suburban with such salty skin!"

Christian didn't know whether to be offended or relieved. Either way, he blushed. He tried to remember the last time a female had touched him, he couldn't.

"You…You aren't going to make me go back, are you?" He stuttered.

Gloria raised an eyebrow, "Do you want to go back?"

"No!" Christian nearly shouted.

Gloria smirked, "Good, you're staying then! Couldn't have let you back into the 'burbs anyway, you know too much."

Christian was ecstatic. _Freedom! I didn't even have to go walking aimlessly for days like I planned, instead this beautiful girl comes around and whisks me off to Paradise U.S.A! Well…okay, she knocked me out and dragged me to the middle of nowhere… Details, details… _

"So. How are we going to get to The Underground? And just where is it anyway? I mean, all the stories say west, but hey, that's not very specific. I mean, is it really far out there and safe and whatnot? How do you guys keep the…"

"Woah, woah, whoa. Hold it right there, McSpeedy. Man, what do you think this is, twenty questions? You'll see it all when you get there, I'll give you the grand tour. Promise! Just chill for now, 'kay?" Gloria looked at her watch, "We'll be heading out in a couple hours, 'round ten. Curfew, nobody will be out and about."

She flopped onto the bed, next to Christian, and layed down. She rolled onto her side, facing him.

"I'm beat, kid. Go play with Kam or somethin'. After I'm all rested up, it should be time to leave…." She closed her eyes.

"How old are you?" Christian asked.

"Huh?"

"You keep calling me 'kid'. How old are you?"

"Uhm…I'll be fifteen in April." She replied, opening her eyes to look at her questioner.

"I'll be fifteen in March. I'm older than you…"

"Ah. Well, okay then gramps," she said, smiling as she shut her eyes once more, "Go see what Kam's up to. He's in charge while I'm napping, but don't let him boss you around or try any macho bullshit. He's really a marshmallow kitten."

"Alright. Good night then…" he realized he didn't know her name.

"Gloria."

"Good night, Gloria."

"'Night Christy."

She drifted off to sleep quickly. Christian knew the second she nodded off because her fists, which had been clenched and ready to kick ass, unwound and revealed that her hands were actually quite feminine and small.

The thought to reach out and hold her hands crossed his mind…_Stupid! What am I thinking! I've only just met her! She'd probably kick my ass ten times over anyhow…_

"Stupid hormones…" he muttered under his breath. He crawled off the futon, careful not to wake Gloria, and made his way through the wiry web, and deeper into Kam's place.


	10. Leaving Kam's

Christian walked through the doorway he had seen Kam go through earlier. It led through a narrow hallway, the walls along which were still plastered in wiring. A door to the left of him spewed fluorescent white-blue light into the otherwise dim corridor. Christian, curious as always, walked into the room to investigate.

He found Kam sitting in front of a glowing monitor. His right hand grasped a white semi-sphere connected to a metal box. His left hand clicked anxiously away at a rectangular pad, full of square buttons covered in letters and symbols.

Christian analyzed the scene, and his face lit up with understanding.

"Holy crap! That's a computer, isn't it?" he said excitedly, breaking the perfect silence with his observation.

"Aaah!" Kameron yelped and turned around sharply, "What the hell, man? You scared the living shit outta me!"

"Shhh!" Christian hissed, putting a finger to his lips, "Gloria's asleep…"

"Oh…" Kameron said, "Oh!" He suddenly remembered the computer, and spun around in his chair. He rapidly closed about twenty windows, but not before Christian caught half a glance of a nude blonde haired woman.

"Hehehe…Sorry about that. Uhm...Anyways…" Kam looked uneasy with the stranger, "Err…Well yeah, that's a computer."

Christian peered up from his feet, his face was flushed red. "Do all computers contain naked women?" _Ach! _He thought, _Why can't the smart-ass in me just shut up for once? Was that really necessary? Jesus, there was no need to piss him off, stupid!_

Kameron faked a smile, "Eh…Well, uhm, no… That was a…uhm…a virus! Damn those hackers! Putting things where they don't belong…"

Christian, naïve but not that stupid, saw straight through Kameron's lie. He decided to be courteous though, seeing as it probably wouldn't help him to piss off a guy who could've been watching him for years. That realization made him shudder.

"Ahh…of course. Hackers…"

Just as an awkward silence began to set in, there was a yawn at the door. Christian and Kameron both looked up to see Gloria's stretching silhouette in the door frame.

Both their teenage hearts' melted.

"Mmph…Good morning, boys. What's with the yelling?" Gloria asked groggily.

"Oh, sorry Gloria…I just walked in on Kameron and he got a little scared, that's all. You can go back to sleep if you want…"

"Hey! I wasn't scared! I was…concerned!" Kam scrambled defensively for words and then added, "Besides, I wouldn't have yelled at all if Christopher here hadn't been sneaking around like some hired assassin!"

"It's CHRISTIAN. CHRIS—TIAN. Need me to spell it out for you? And I wasn't 'sneaking around'! If you weren't so caught up in your porn, maybe you would've heard me come in!"

Kameron started to yell something back, but Gloria cut him off.

"Whoa there! Chill out you two! Jesus…" She put her fingers up to her forehead and the bridge of her nose, like an impatient mother handling her fighting children. "Kameron, no cyber-sluts when we have guests over, got it? Come on Christian, there's been an incident in the assembly hall and all the officers are busy. Time to go!"

"We're leaving?"

"That is what I said." Gloria replied, "Go get your briefcase, it's on the couch. Meet me at the back door, right over there." She pointed down the hallway to a grimy screen door.

She pulled her jacket up over her shoulders as Christian walked to the living room for his belongings. "I'm gonna take a lunchable, 'kay? I doubt the kid's eaten anything since this morning." Even though she knew he was a month older, the nickname stuck.

"Yeah, alright. Should be in the mini-fridge… How'd you know about the assembly incident?"

"That? You left your security camera feed on, the T.V. right on the back wall. First thing I see when I wake up; the place has about twenty fire-trucks around it and every officer in the city playing crowd control. Lucky us!" She bent down to the miniature refrigerator, more of a cooler really, and pulled out a small pack of food.

"Oh. Yeah, lucky. So…When do you think you're gonna be back?" Kameron asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"I don't know, man. Whenever the next riot is, I guess."

"Oh…" Kam sighed. He knew that would mean another couple months of isolation. Eating instant ramen, watching old reality T.V. shows, and watching the streets of Suburbia for suspicious activity that never occurred.

"I'm sure there will be some spy activity running through every once in a while. That and supply shipments…" Gloria said, knowing what he was thinking.

"Still…I'm going to miss you…" Kameron said, his voice nearly cracking on the last word.

"C'mon, I'll be back before you know it! I'll see ya round, Kam!"

She turned and walked to the back door, tapping Christian on the shoulder to get his attention. He had been preoccupied with a microwave, sitting just inside a room near the back.

"Curious little bugger, eh? That's a microwave, you cook food with it. Don't you have them back in the 'burbs?"

"Yeah…but they work with bar code scanners…So nobody can blow stuff up…" He set the microwave to popcorn and pressed start. The machine whirred and lit up, despite there being nothing inside it.

Gloria quickly pressed cancel. "Wow…You have a lot to learn. Let's get going then…" She turned to the door and twisted the handle. The door was reluctant to open, stuck shut by rust and dirt, so she persuaded it into moving with the help of her shoulder. She held the door for Christian, who walked out onto the back porch and looked at the barren western landscape.

Turning back again, she faced Kameron, who was standing in the hallway waiting for her to leave. She gave him a salute and smiled. "Good luck, oh brave soldier! May the internet be non-glitchy and free of Rick rolling!"

He saluted back weakly, his smile forced but doing its job.

Gloria stepped outside and the door shut with a barely audible "click".


End file.
